Part 45 (2/2)

CHAPTER Forty-Three

I didn't wake up until I was back home, and then only long enough to shamble inside and fall down on my bed. I was out for maybe six hours, and then I woke up with my whole back fused into one long, enormous muscle cramp. I made some involuntarily pathetic noises, and Mouse rose up from the floor beside my bed and jogged out of my room. didn't wake up until I was back home, and then only long enough to shamble inside and fall down on my bed. I was out for maybe six hours, and then I woke up with my whole back fused into one long, enormous muscle cramp. I made some involuntarily pathetic noises, and Mouse rose up from the floor beside my bed and jogged out of my room.

Molly appeared from the living room a moment later and said, ”Harry? What's wrong?”

”Back,” I said. ”My back. Freaking vampire tart. Wrenched my neck.”

Molly nodded once and vanished. When she came back, she had a small black bag. ”You were holding yourself sort of strangely last night, so after I dropped you off, I borrowed Mother's medicine bag.” She held up a bottle. ”Muscle relaxants.” A jar. ”Tiger Balm.” She held up a plastic container of dust. ”Herbal tea mix s.h.i.+ro found in Tibet. Great for joint pain. My father swears by it.”

”Padawan,” I said, ”I'm doubling your pay.”

”You don't pay me, Harry.”

”Tripling it, then.”

She gave me a broad smile. ”And I'll be happy to get you all set up just as soon as you promise to tell me everything that happened. That you can, I mean. Oh, and Sergeant Murphy called. She wanted to know as soon as you were awake.”

”Give her a ring,” I said. ”And of course I'll tell you about it. Is there any water?”

She went and got me some, but I needed her help to sit up enough to drink it. That was embarra.s.sing as h.e.l.l. I got more embarra.s.sed when she took my s.h.i.+rt off with a clinical detachment, and then winced at all the bruises. She fed me the muscle relaxants and set to with the Tiger Balm, and it hurt like h.e.l.l. For about ten minutes. Then the stuff started working, and the not-pain was a drug of its own.

After a nice cup of tea-which tasted horrible, but which made it possible to move my neck within ten or twenty minutes of drinking it-I was able to get myself into the shower and get cleaned up and into fresh clothes. It was heavenly. Nothing like a nightmarish near-death experience to make you appreciate the little things in life, like cleanliness. And not being dead.

I spent a minute giving Mister some attention, though apparently he'd slept with Molly, because he accepted maybe a whole thirty seconds of stroking and then dismissed me as unnecessary once he was sure I was in one piece. Normally, he needs some time spread across someone's lap to be himself. I ruffled Mouse for a while instead, which he enjoyed dutifully, and then got myself some food and sat down in the chair across from Molly on the couch.

”Sergeant Murphy's on the way,” Molly reported.

”Good,” I told her quietly ”So tell me about it.”

”You first.”

She gave me a semiexasperated look, and started talking. ”I sat in the car being invisible for... maybe an hour? Mouse kept me company. Nothing much happened. Then bells started ringing and men started shouting and shooting and the lights went out. A few minutes later, there was a great big explosion-it moved the rearview mirror out of position. Then Mouse started making noise like you said he would, and we drove to the gate and he jumped out of the car and came back with you.”

I blinked at her for a minute. ”That sounds really boring.”

”But scary,” Molly said. ”Very tense.” She took a deep breath and said, ”I had to throw up twice, just sitting there, I was so nervous. I don't know if... if I'm going to be cut out for this kind of thing, Harry.”

”Thank G.o.d,” I said. ”You're sane.” I took a few more bites of food and then said, ”But I need to know how much you want to know.”

Molly blinked and leaned toward me a little. ”What?”

”There's a lot I can tell you,” I said. ”Some of it is just business. Some of it is going to be dangerous for you to know about. It might even obligate you in ways you wouldn't like very much.”

”So you won't tell me that part?” she asked.

”Didn't say that,” I said. ”I'm willing. But some of this stuff you'd be safer and happier not knowing. I don't want to endanger you or trap you into feeling you have to act without giving you a choice about it.”

Molly stared at me for a minute while I gobbled cereal. Then she frowned, looked down at her hands for a minute, and said, ”Maybe just tell me what you think is best. For now.”

”Good answer,” I said quietly.

And I told her about the White Court, about the challenge and the duel, about Vittorio's betrayal and how he gated in the ghouls and how I'd had my own backup standing by in the Nevernever.

”What?” Molly said. ”How did you do that?”

”Thomas,” I said. ”He's a vampire, and they have the ability to cross into the Nevernever at certain places.”

”What kind of places?” Molly asked.

”Places that are, ah,” I said, ”important to them. Relevant to them in a particular way.”

”Places of l.u.s.t, you mean,” Molly said.

I coughed and ate more cereal. ”Yeah. And places where significant things have happened to them. In Thomas's case, he was nearly sacrificed by a cult of p.o.r.n-star sorceresses in those caves a few years a-”

”I'm sorry,” Molly said, interrupting. ”But it sounded like you said 'cult of p.o.r.n-star sorceresses.'”

”Yeah,” I said.

”Oh,” she said, giving me a skeptical look. ”Sorry, then. Keep going.”

”Anyway. He nearly died there, so I knew he could find it again. He led Marcone and Murphy there, and they were camped out, waiting for me to open a gate.”

”I see,” Molly said. ”And you all ganged up on this Vittorio guy and killed him?”

”Not quite,” I said, and told her what happened, leaving out any mention of Lasciel or Cowl.

Molly blinked as I finished. ”Well. That explains it, then.”

”Explains what?”

”There were all kinds of little lights going by the windows all night. They didn't upset Mouse. I thought maybe it was some kind of sending, and figured the wards would keep it out.” She shook her head. ”It must have been all the little faeries.”

”They hang around all the time anyway,” I said. ”It just takes a lot of them before it's obvious enough to notice.” I chewed Cheerios thoughtfully. ”More mouths to feed. Guess I'd better call Pizza 'Spress and step up my standing order, or we'll have some kind of teeny faerie clan war over pizza rights on our hands.”

I finished breakfast, found my back stiffening again, after sitting still, and was stretching out a little when Murphy arrived. She was still in her party clothes from the night before, complete with a loaded backpack.

After kneeling down to give Mouse his hug, she surprised me. I got one, too. I surprised myself with how hard I hugged back.

Molly occasionally displayed wisdom beyond her years. She did now, taking my car keys, showing them to me, and departing without a word, firmly shutting the door behind her.

”Glad you're okay,” I told Murphy.

<script>